


The Last of the Real Ones

by soixantecroissants



Series: Do Not Go Gentle [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dark Outlaw Queen, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 16:42:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14024391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soixantecroissants/pseuds/soixantecroissants
Summary: Dark OQ first kiss. For OQ Prompt Party.





	The Last of the Real Ones

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Starscythe_j](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starscythe_j/gifts).



> Based on her [gorgeous manip](https://twitter.com/starscythe/status/975703996517187584).

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, at first.

She was advancing on Robin in a thunderous rage, the wind lifting her skirts and tossing them back like a careless, half-wild thing. He’d never seen her quite like this before, with her hair all loose and down and free, though he’d become quite familiar with that scowl she was wearing and knew that only trouble would follow.

He’d seen it countless times during that year they all spent in her castle, her seething at him and Robin refusing to look away from her until she’d grown too flustered to know what to do with her anger.

But this was not them. At least, he knew that man wasn’t Robin.

Of all the thousand reasons that John could think of for Regina’s return to the Enchanted Forest – though Roland was all the explanation he knew she would need – not a single one of them could make sense of the fact that Robin was here with her, too.

Robin, the best mate a man could ever ask for, and the father to one miraculous boy that John could hardly bear to raise in his place most days – Robin was dead. And yet there he was, standing meters away from the dense knoll of sweetbriar that John had ducked by for cover while the purple vapors cleared.

“What were you _thinking_?” Regina was shouting at this man who looked exactly like Robin, save for the dark hair, and the even darker look on his face when she put her hands on his chest and shoved. “Throwing yourself in front of that arrow – I could have stopped it! You could have been killed!”

“You’re right, perhaps you could have stopped it,” Robin shouted right back, “which I’m told would not be the first time, now would it?” His outburst stopped her square in her tracks, and she stagger-stepped away from him with a frozen expression.

His fury with her seemed to deflate in an instant, his face falling to see how she shrank back from him when he reached for her, entreating. “Regina, I’m sorry.”

She shook her head, staring at him like he might be a stranger to her, and John found himself raising his crossbow without any memory of reaching for it to begin with. This wasn’t the Robin he knew, that much was still clear to him, which meant the man couldn’t be trusted no matter how badly Regina might want to believe it.

He didn’t know what sort of con this imposter was running, but if he so much as breathed the wrong way around her, John would be ready. He couldn’t very well come home to Roland explaining how he’d just lost the closest thing he had to a mother, too.

“Regina, please forgive me.” Robin’s features softened, earnest in a way that had John lowering his crossbow ever so slightly. For a moment there, he looked like _him_ again. “In case I haven’t made myself clear on the matter, if there’s one thing your Robin and I have in common, it’s that I can’t let anything happen to you. Not on my watch.”

He certainly sounded a lot like him, John decided, feeling almost hopeful when Regina seemed to relax just a little and let Robin take her hand this time.

“If this is going to work between us, you should know that that goes both ways,” she told him quietly, and their fingers did a shy little dance before weaving carefully together. “I would rather not see anything happen to you either, if I can do something about it.”

“You can try,” said Robin, dimples winking in a lopsided fashion that had her glowering half-heartedly up at him, and yes, thought John, this was Robin and Regina as he’d always remembered them. “But I can’t promise that I won’t keep getting in your way.”

She looked a bit dismayed by this, but before she could open her mouth to fight back, Robin had all but hauled her into his arms, bending down to capture their lips together.

But he was pulling away before she could seem to gather her bearings, watching her with a careful expression like he thought she might protest or possibly worse. She gazed up at him, something like coyness crossing her features, and then she fisted her hands into the sides of his cloak and tugged him firmly back down to her.

Their lips met a second time, the force of it stumbling them into each other, Robin’s arms tightening around her back while she stretched onto her toes to deepen the kiss. Robin made a sound in his throat that had her spine arching, a sigh escaping her in answer.

It was, admittedly, not the first time John had accidentally found himself privy to these more intimate moments between them (more than once he’d even suspected they did it on purpose to mess with his mind); but despite all the traumatizing ways in which he’d witnessed them – err – enjoying one another, as they most clearly were now, John couldn’t feel the least bit sorry that this one might not be the last.

“So,” said Robin, pressing a final kiss to her lips before setting her back on her feet and glancing most curiously around them. “What sort of realm have you brought me to this time?”

Regina looked almost shy as she smiled, “I thought I might give you a proper tour of my land for a change,” and as Robin gallantly motioned for her to lead the way, John put his crossbow aside and stepped out of the trees to welcome her home.


End file.
